Born in Dublin, Luke the Laker grew up on Lower Baggot Street, just down the way from Catherine McAuley’s first House of Mercy. Luke bleeds green and blue and is ready to cheer on our student-athletes and do all he can in support of Mercyhurst pride.

Strategic Initiatives

Related Resources

Located in Erie, Pennsylvania, on a hill overlooking Lake Erie, our 75-acre Main Campus is known as one of the most beautiful in the region. Elements of English Gothic architecture are carried throughout our Old Main, academic buildings and student residence halls.

Tom Ridge Archive

The Thomas J. and Michele Ridge Collection comprises approximately 1100 linear feet of documents, audio visual materials, and artifacts. By the time the repository is open for research use, we will have made available approximately 1,125,000 pages of documents, 3000 audio visual items, 10,000 photographs, and 1500 artifacts. The collection mainly spans Secretary Ridge’s time as governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1995-2001) and documents many significant events of his administration. The acquisition is of great benefit to Mercyhurst University, both in terms of its potential on-campus use and for the creation of a robust research environment. The collection contains a wealth of significant primary materials, such as the Governor and First Lady’s schedules throughout their tenure in Harrisburg, which includes the text of all their speeches. Mrs. Ridge was particularly diligent in the collection of related ephemera, which is of tremendous exhibition value. Other notable materials document the renovation of the Governor’s residence and gardens, shipbuilding, international trade, and the marketing of the Commonwealth’s natural and cultural resources. The First Lady’s papers provide insight into her numerous public appearances and causes, ranging from the PA Partnership for Children to the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition. The collection is ripe for development as a teaching tool for a number of Mercyhurst’s programs, including intelligence studies, applied politics, public history and marketing.

The Ridge Collection will continue to grow as materials documenting Secretary Ridge’s congressional service are added.

Mission

The Thomas J. & Michele Ridge Collection at Mercyhurst University documents their public service, specifically focusing on Secretary Ridge’s term as the 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania (1995-2001). Mercyhurst University’s Center for Archival Projects serves to preserve, arrange and make available the Ridge Collection to students, faculty, scholars and the public who wish to expand their knowledge of the Ridges’ years of public service to the city of Erie, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States.

Events

Join us in Hershey!Mercyhurst University’s 12th President, Michael T. Victor cordially invites you to join Governor & Mrs. Tom Ridge and Governor & Mrs. Mark Schweiker for a fundraiser and celebration of the historic 20th Anniversary of the Ridge Schweiker Administration in Pennsylvania on Thursday, October 22, 2015 at the Hotel Hershey.